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SteveCoast

So you saved $4.40 to go to Walmart.

* There's a non-zero chunk of the population not near a Walmart or similar.

* It costs time to go there

* It costs vehicle depreciation

So if you were going to Walmart anyway, or walked there with nothing better to do you saved the money.

But if you didn't then let's say the average wage is $25/hour or so and you spent 30 minutes there and back, and fully loaded vehicle depreciation is 50 cents/mile and it's 5 miles away then you spent $17.50 to go there.

I totally realize we could argue all this back and forth but just pointing out that most of the time the "savings" aren't real if you value your time and transport. And yes, I realize most people don't value their time and treat their transport as a sunk cost even if it isn't entirely.

edit: I was assuming going to walmart in person as opposed to online, because that's what most people appear to do but I'm happy to be wrong :-)

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Walmart has a major online shopping portal that competes directly with amazon. My assumption is the OP was talking about buying online from Walmart, particularly given the other example was eBay.

Correct.

I agree with this, but it's also true that until recently Amazon usually had all those advantages and lower prices.

The change is meaningful both as a revealed strategy, and as a new datapoint about the fear of stores becoming "Amazon showrooms". For quite a while, it's been true that even after you're at Walmart or Target, comparing multiple items you couldn't evaluate well online, it was cheaper to drive home empty-handed and buy from Amazon - which is obviously unsustainable for someone. If that ceases to be true, we might see a more natural dichotomy where stores retain an edge on "see it in person" and "want it now" items while drawing back on their competition "any one will do, whenever" goods that are more convenient via Amazon.

I agree if the prices are now really higher. They don't "feel" higher to me. Here's cat litter that's $17.49 (one of the root comments mentioned this but it might not be the identical product):

https://camelcamelcamel.com/Dr-Elseys-Premium-Clumping-Litte...

Looks like the price has been going sideways for 4 years with some noise up and down, and before that, come down a lot?

I buy that exact litter on a regular basis from Amazon. What happens is that Amazon periodically runs out of stock and the price jumps because all of the 3rd party sellers have much higher prices than Amazon.

You did a great job nailing the fiscal loss associated with going to Walmart - but with those aside, I would gladly pay $5 to not have to show face at Walmart.

Amazon is equally repulsive.

As a company, yes. As a customer experience, not really.

At Walmart, I have to interact with employees who never seem happy to be there. A good quarter have no real reason to do more than minimum. I have to wait in line most times. Now, it has been over 5 years since I've had a walmart in the same country as I am, but I remember the horribleness of 2am walmart, mostly because they would only open one or two registers, no matter line length. I also have to deal with other customers. That can be worse.

Amazon? I click a few times, possibly put in some information, and I wait for my package.

> Amazon? I click a few times, possibly put in some information, and I wait for my package.

You can do the exact same thing at walmart.com - not that I advocate shopping with either company.

I was pretty sure the comment was referring to going to a physical store. Doesn't actually matter much to me anymore - I now live in a country with no wal-mart and no native Amazon. I'm pretty sure one doesn't ship here and when the other does, they usually are expensive (shipping) and do not include Norway's Vat in the price.

To be honest, with the growth of self-checkout at Walmart the times I actually interact with a Walmart employee directly is now probably close to 30%.

They didn't have them at Wal-mart last time I lived around one - around 5 years ago. I use those in every store that has them, though, so long as possible (I can't if I'm using cash).

This experience has really improved over time. Twenty years ago, in some locations, the average Walmart customer would have had more luck operating the space shuttle than they seemed to have with the self checkout. Long lines of people who apparently had never seen a TV, let alone a touchscreen interface, chased me over to Target. I was that theoretical consumer who was happy to pay more... Something has changed since then, because I can't remember the last time I was in a Target.

Walmart actually has a pretty good online shopping experience. They even give free 2 day shipping on orders of 35 or more IIRC.

Twice I've gone to walmart.com to load up my cart and get free shipping. Both times I ended up leaving empty handed because I got to the checkout and one or more items didn't qualify for free shipping. I get that there will be exceptions, but they could sure work on telling me that before I get halfway through the checkout. In both cases I ended up back on amazon.

I suppose GP used some Walmart e-commerce site, otherwise they would be comparing apples to oranges.

You can order online from walmart right? I assume that's what he meant

Yes, it is.

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